East Duplin boys win in OT over Topsail; Panther girls ‘survive’

By Staff Reports

Published: Thursday, January 3, 2013 at 10:10 AM.

Leading the Cougars was Alex Bray, who defeated Asher Goodwin of Olympic 4-3 to capture the 120-pound title. Croatan’s Andrew Colborn (182) and Kyle Colborn (195) were second while Brody McGrath (138) and Johnathan Rigsby (heavyweight) were sixth.

Swansboro was led by Tyler Henson, who was second at 113 pounds, and Bryan Mol, who was third at 106.

After Topsail forced overtime with a buzzer-beating jumper and scored the first two points in the extra period, the Panthers scored the final six points to escape with a 39-35 victory in an East Central 2-A Conference game Wednesday night.

“It was a great win,” East Duplin first-year coach Robert Ross aid. “We finally put together four quarters. The kids’ effort was unbelievable tonight.”

The Panthers, who are now 2-1 in overtime games this season, are now 3-9 overall and 1-1 in the ECC while Topsail fell to 6-4 and 0-2.

After East Duplin missed a foul shot late, Topsail rushed down court and Jarrin Sullivan hit a jumper out the foul line that beat the buzzer to force overtime. The Pirates then scored the first bucket of OT to go up 35-33, but that was it.

East Duplin scored the final 6 points in the extra period, 4 by Alex Hall and 2 by Nick Williams. Hall finished with 9 points and Williams 5 for the Panthers, who were led by Montell Stallings with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

East Duplin 26, Topsail 20: In a game in which the teams combined for just 14 field goals and 46 points, East Duplin slugged out an East Central 2-A Conference win over visiting Topsail.

Brittney Woodard led the Panthers (10-2, 2-0) with 11 points and 6 rebounds.

“I don’t know (what to say),” East Duplin coach Mark Lane said. “I said if I could figure this one out I’d be a multi-millionaire. I really don’t know. We were 1-for-20-something at halftime. I don’t know.

“We play a whale of a game in the Christmas tournament against Lakewood. We scare the pants off one of the better 1-A teams in the state and tonight we were very lucky to survive.”

The Panthers were 12 of 16 foul shots, including 5 of 6 by Tenae McKinzie in the fourth quarter.

Croatan wound up with 134 points on Saturday while Swansboro finished with 96. Jack Britt won with 158.5 points.

Leading the Cougars was Alex Bray, who defeated Asher Goodwin of Olympic 4-3 to capture the 120-pound title. Croatan’s Andrew Colborn (182) and Kyle Colborn (195) were second while Brody McGrath (138) and Johnathan Rigsby (heavyweight) were sixth.

Swansboro was led by Tyler Henson, who was second at 113 pounds, and Bryan Mol, who was third at 106.